Devitt was born in St. Paul, May 5, 1911, the son of Thomas P. and
Ethel (McGuire) Devitt. He attended St. Paul public schools until the death of
his father in 1921, at which time the family moved to East Grand Forks,
Minnesota. While attending school in St. Paul he was a classmate of Warren
Burger and Harry Blackmun, who both later became justices of the U.S. Supreme
Court. From 1926 to 1932 he attended St. John's Preparatory School and
University (Collegeville, Minnesota) and from 1932 to 1935 he attended the
University of North Dakota in Grand Forks where he received his law degree.

His legal career began in 1935 with his election as an East Grand
Forks municipal judge (1935-1939). He was later appointed an assistant
Minnesota attorney general (1939-1942), a Ramsey County probate judge
(1950-1954); and a U.S. district judge (1954-1992).

Devitt was elected to the Fourth Congressional District seat in 1946
and lost it in 1948 to Eugene J. McCarthy. He served as a lieutenant commander
to the Seventh Fleet in U.S. Navy intelligence during World War II (1942-1946).
Devitt married Marcelle LaRose MacRae of Mandan, North Dakota on April 22,
1939. He died at the age of 80 in St. Paul on March 2, 1992.

Biographical information was taken from the collection.

SCOPE AND CONTENTS

The collection documents Devitt's life and career from high school and
college days (1920s) to his death in 1992. Biographical information,
scrapbooks, correspondence, speeches, published articles, legal opinions,
committee records, campaign literature, newspaper clippings, and magazine
articles contain information on his political campaigns for the Fourth
Congressional District seat (1946-1948), on his congressional career, and his
subsequent judicial career (1950-1991). Also included are correspondence,
booklets, and newspaper clippings relating to anniversaries of his judicial
appointments and birth celebrations (1979-1990), as well as certificates,
citations, diplomas, and appointments (1935-1985).

The majority of the collection documents Devitt's professional
activities with the American Bar Association and the Judicial Conference of the
United States. Sections of particular interest include files regarding Devitt's
chairmanship of the ABA's Advisory Committee on Fair Trial-Free Press and files
regarding his work with the Judicial Conference concerning judicial
standards.

This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Devitt's personal and political papers include biographical
information, material related to his 1946 and 1948 congressional campaigns,
certificates attesting his judicial appointments, correspondence, photographs,
and scrapbooks. Also included within this series are materials related to
Devitt's presiding role in the 1961 liquor syndicate trial of Isadore
Blumenfeld's Minneapolis Combination.

Certificates, awards, and citations:University of North Dakota. Bachelor of Laws diploma,
June 11, 1935.Certificate to practice law in Illinois, January 10,
1944.Ramsey County Probate Court. Appointment as Judge,
January 6, 1950.National Conference of Christians and Jews
Recognition, May 14, 1981.U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.
Appointment as Judge, January 11, 1985.+202U.S. District Court for Minnesota. Appointment,
December 10, 1954 and February 7, 1955. 2 itemsThird Ward DFL Women's Club [Minneapolis ?]. Citation
for Devitt's handling of the 1961 liquor syndicate trials ("Kid Cann"),
[1961?].

See also: Box 1 for materials
related to the Kid Cann trial.

Speeches, Articles, and Legal Opinions,
1946-1991

Devitt's speech files (1946-1991)
document his appearances before many legal, political, religious, and community
organizations and contain insights into his personal, theological, political,
and judicial opinions. Included are speeches given while Devitt served as a
congressman and speeches given while he was a judge. Published articles
(1959-1989) and legal opinions (1955-1991) provide a more in-depth look at
Devitt's judicial philosophy. Also included are 1979 correspondence concerning
an article Devitt wrote which questioned the validity of juries as well as
1987-1989 correspondence concerning the fourth edition of a work which Devitt
first co-authored with William C. Mathes in 1965 regarding jury
instructions.

Devitt's professional interests and activities extended beyond
Minnesota. Through membership in national professional organizations, Devitt
was able to serve on many committees which advanced his interests in judicial
reform.

He was an active member of the American Bar Association (ABA),
serving on its Bar Admissions Committee (1982-1983) and its Standing Committee
on Public Relations (1968-1969). He also chaired the Association's Advisory
Committee on Fair Trial-Free Press from 1967-1971. This committee worked with
the American Association of Newspaper Editors, the National Association of
Broadcasters, and the Radio Television News Directors Association in an attempt
to balance courtroom proceedings against unlimited press access. The bulk of
the files documenting Devitt's membership with the ABA reflect the work of this
committee. A separate file related to the Free Speech Committee of the
Minnesota Newspaper Foundation is also included.

Devitt also chaired a number of committees under the Judicial
Conference of the United States. These included the Federal Courtroom
Facilities and Design Committee (1971-1973), the Bicentennial Committee
(1975-1976), and the Committee to Consider Standards for Admission to Practice
in Federal Courts (1976-1979). This last committee, more commonly known as the
Judicial Standards Committee or the Devitt Committee, attempted to set up
uniform standards for lawyers practicing in federal circuit and district
courts. Devitt was also a long-term member of the Conference's Judicial Conduct
and Disability Committee, formally known as the Committee to Review Circuit
Court Conduct and Disability (1982-1991).

Devitt's involvement with each of these committees is well
documented within the series. The files are arranged alphabetically by
organization name with the respective committees listed thereunder. Included
within the committee files are correspondence, meeting minutes, subcommittee
files, conference speeches, project files, questionnaires and surveys, manuals,
standards and guidelines, reports of congressional hearings, newspaper
clippings, and related materials.

Additional correspondence, hearing files, and an article written
by Devitt chronicle his advocacy of a six-member jury plan which was intended
to be used in certain types of cases and which was eventually upheld by the
U.S. Supreme Court.

Also included are materials regarding the Devitt Distinguished
Service to Justice Award established in 1982 by West Publishing Company of St.
Paul as a yearly event honoring an American judge for distinguished judicial
service. These materials include correspondence, programs, newspaper clippings,
photographs, and similar materials.

Filed at the end of this series are correspondence with judges in
Minnesota and elsewhere. These files detail Devitt's relationship with other
judges, particularly with U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren E. Burger and
U.S. Appeals Court Judge George E. MacKinnon. The correspondence also includes
information on the Historical Society of the United States Courts in the Eighth
Judicial Circuit, on Devitt's service on the Judicial Conduct and Disability
Committee, and on the Bicentennial Committee. Historical information regarding
circuit and district courts in Minnesota are included within this set of
correspondence as well as within the files of the Judicial Conference's
Bicentennial Committee.